C5 greenlights Richard Parks adventure series

Former rugby player Richard Parks (pictured) will undertake a series of endurance challenges in an adventure reality series for UK broadcaster Channel 5, produced by Zig Zag Productions and GroupM Entertainment.

The yet-to-be-titled series (four x 60-minutes) follows Parks as he undertakes a series of grueling challenges, including an endurance race, the world’s highest mountain biking race in the Himalayas, a double Iron Man event in Wales called The Brutal, and a “secret world first expedition currently code-named Project X,” according to the producers.

Parks spent 13 years playing pro rugby in the United Kingdom but withdrew from the sport after suffering a shoulder injury. He has since entered the world of extreme adventure, creating the 737 Challenge – a seven-month race to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, and venture to the North and South Poles.

A Scorpion TV-produced documentary about the challenge, Conquering The World, aired on BBC in the UK and will air across Discovery’s channels in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa this year.

The series will debut on Channel 5 in early 2014. The executive producers are Zig Zag’s Clare Hollywood and Danny Fenton, and GroupM’s Tony Moulsdale and Melanie Darlaston.

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About The Author

Senior staff writer Frederick Blichert comes to realscreen with a background as a journalist and freelance film critic. He has previously written for VICE, Paste Magazine, Senses of Cinema, Xtra, Canadian Cinematographer and elsewhere. He holds a Master of Arts in film studies from Carleton University and a Master of Journalism from the University of British Columbia.